UNIT-I DRAMA

Elizabethan and Jacobian Drama

SHAKESPEARE

Drama emerged in England  in the 16th and 17th centuries. Many of these plays
were written in verse, particularly iambic pentameter.
Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton, and Ben Jonson were
prominent playwrights during this period.
In the medieval period, historical plays celebrated the lives of past kings,
enhancing the image of the Tudor monarchy.
The Elizabethan Drama flourished in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
Elizabethan Drama Features
The new Elizabethan introduced a hero who was not ascertained of his fate and
was full of doubts and passions.
They used expansive metaphors in text. The first public theatre was ‘The
Theatre’ by a carpenter James Burbage.
Use of theology, geography and science provided a new dimension to the
literature of the time.
The comedies were better than the tragedies. Ralph Roister Doister written by
Nicholas Udall is the first regular English comedy. It was a kind of farce in rough verse.
Gammer Gurton’s Needle was another comedy.
Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville’s Gorboduc was the first regular tragedy.
Thomas Kyd improved the tragedy by writing The Spanish Tragedy.
English theatres
The first permanent English theatre, the Red Lion, opened in 1567. The first
successful theatre The Theatre was opened in 1576.
The Mayor and Corporation of London first banned plays in 1572 as a measure
against the plague. He formally expelled all players from the city in 1575. The
Theatre was constructed in Shore ditch in 1576 by James Burbage with his brother-in-
law John Brayne, the owner of the Red Lion playhouse of 1567 .

List of theatres
1.  Curtain Theatre  -1577
2. the Rose  -1587
3. the Swan  -1595
4. the Globe  -1599
5. the Fortune  -1600
6. the Red Bull  -1604
7. the Blackfriars Theatre - 1599
8. the Whitefriars  -1608
9. the Cockpit  -1616 latter The Phoenix 1617
10. the Salisbury Court Theatre  -1629
11. Cockpit-in-Court - 11929
12. Inn-yard theatres -1666
13. Newington Butts -1576
14. Red Lion theatre -1567
 15. The Hope -1647
16. The Theatre -1576
Playing companies
1. King's Revels Children
2. King's Revels Men
3. Lady Elizabeth's Men
4. Leicester's Men
5. Lord Strange's Men (later Derby's Men)
6. Oxford's Boys
7. Oxford's Men
8. Pembroke's Men
9. Prince Charles's Men
10. Queen Anne's Men
11. Queen Elizabeth's Men
12. Queen Henrietta's Men
13. The Admiral's Men
14. The Children of Paul's
15. The Children of the Chapel(Queen's Revels)
16. The King's Men
17. The Lord Chamberlain's Men
18. Sussex's Men
19. Warwick's Men
20. Worcester's Men

Elizabethan Drama Themes

1. Anti-Semitism: 
Anti-Semitism of the Elizabethan society reflected in plays of the periods rife with
such hatred as seen in Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta and William
Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
2. Revenge Tragedy: 
It a ghost-like in Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy or a Prince
in Shakespeare’s Hamlet the motive of revenge became the main counter-motive
in tragedies.
3. Supernatural Elements: The society of the time was highly superstitious
with people believing in the supernatural forces. Ghosts became the prime moving
force in many tragedies.
4. Comedy of Humours: 
The extensive use of psychology was founded on the theory of humours inside a
human body, namely, blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. Ben
Jonson’s Every Man in His Humour is referred to as the “comedy of humours“.
Dramatic Devices
Asides or private conversations and soliloquy are used to engage with the
audience and became quite popular.
Iambic Pentameter with five two-syllable “feet” and Use of Blank Verse without
the iambic pentameter was the most popular construction of the age.
Elizebethan Playwrights:
Chronolocal order
John Lyly -1554-1606
Euphues
The Anatomy of Wit
Ephues and His England
Endymion
Thomas Kyd -1557-1586
The Spanish Tragedy
George Peele -1558-1597
The Araygnement of Paris
The Famous Chronicle of King Edward I
Thomas Lodge -1558-1625
The Wounds of Civil War
Rosalynde
Robert Greene -1560-1592
Frier Bacon and Frier Bungey
Orlando
Furioso
Pandosto
Christopher Marlow-1564-1593
Tamburlaine the Great
Edward II
Doctor Faustus
The jew of Malta
The Tragedy of Dido
Queene of Carthage
Thomas Nash -1567-1601
The Unfortunate Traveller or the Life of Jack Wilton 
George Chapman (1559-1634)
Comedy
The Blind Beggar of Alexandria -1596
An Humorous Day’s Mirth -1597
All Fools - 1605
Monsieur D’Olive -1605
The Gentleman Usher - 1606
May Day - 1611
The Widow’s Tears - 1612
Tragedy
Bussy D’Ambois -1607
The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron -1608
The Revenge of Bussy D’Ambois -1613
The Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France -Published 1639
Caesar and Pompey -1613
William Shakespeare - 1564-1616
 Ben Jonson - 1573-1637
 Every Man in His Humour
Every Man Out of His Humour
Volpone or the Fox
Cynthia’s Revels
The Alchemist
Bartholomew
Fayre
Epicaene or the Silent Women
Sajanus His Fall
Catline His Conspiracy
The Poetaster
Teh Devil as an Ass
Thomas Middleton -1570-1627
 The Masque of Beauty
John Webster -1580-1625
The White Devil
The Duchess of Malfi
The Devil’s Law Case
John Ford -1586-1639
The Broken Heart
’Tis Pity She is a Whore
The Lover’s Melancholy
Love’s Sacrifice
Francis Beaumont -1584-1616
A King and No King
The Night of the Burning Pestle
John Fletcher -1579-1625
Philaster
The Maid’s Tragedy
Philip Massinger -1583-1640
A New Way to Pay Old Debts
The City Madam
The Duke Milaine
Thomas Dekker -1572-1632
 James Shirley -1596-1666
 John Marston -1572-1634
 Thomas Heywood -1575-1650
A Woman Killed with Kindness
The English Traveller
The Captives
The Inns of Court were communities of working lawyers and university alumni. 
Poets and playwrights resided in the Inns of Court are 
John Donne, 
Francis Beaumont, 
John Marston, 
Thomas Lodge, 
 Thomas Campion, 
Abraham Fraunce, 
Sir Philip Sidney, 
Sir Thomas More, 
Sir Francis Bacon, and 
George Gascoigne.
 Plays written and performed in the Inns of Court are 
Gorboduc, 
Gismund of Salerne, and 
The Misfortunes of Arthur.
Masque written and performed inn courts are 
James Shirley’s The Triumph of Peace
Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night.
The first permanent English theatre, the Red Lion, opened in 1567.
Elizebetah Thaetre
The first successful theatres The Theatre was opened in 1576. The Theatre was
constructed in  1576 by James Burbage with his brother-in-law John Brayne  and
the Newington Butts playhouse was set up by Jerome Savage between 1575 and
1577. 
The other theatre were 
Curtain Theatre -1577,
the Rose -1587,
the Swan -1595,
the Globe -1599,
the Fortune -1600 and
the Red Bull -1604.
Small theatres
the Blackfriars Theatre-1599
the Whitefriars-1608 and
the Cockpit -1617.
Salisbury Court Theatre in 1629
Playhouse architecture
 The public theatres were three stories high, and built around an open space at
the centre. Usually polygonal in plan to give an overall rounded effect but the Red Bull
and the first Fortune were square. The rear side was restricted for the entrances and
exits of the actors and seating for the musicians. The upper level behind the stage could
be used as a balcony, as in Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra, or as a
position from which an actor could harangue a crowd, as in Julius Caesar.
William Shakespeare
He primarily belonged to the Elizabethan era but most of his popular work was
written during the Jacobean period.
William Shakespeare(1564-1616)
William Shakespeare was born on 23 rd Apirl , 1564 at Statford-on-Avon in
Warwickshire. He studied Greek. Shakespare was married to Anne Hathaway, a woman
eight years senior than him on November 28, 15
82. He had a daughter by name Susanna and twins – Hament and Judith.
 Shakespeare’s playhouse was ‘The Theatre‘. It was built by James Burbage in
1576 . It was renamed as ‘The Globe‘ in 1598. Shakespeare was taken in ‘The Globe’
as a partner.
He died at New Place on April 23 , 1616. He was buried in the chancel of
Stratford Church on the 25th.
Shakespeare has written 37 plays, two longer poems ‘The Rape of Lucrece ‘ and
Venus Adonis ‘ and 154 sonnets.
Prof Dowden had divided Shakespeare’s Career into four parts.
First peridod : ( 1587 – 1594 )
This period is a period of Shakespeare ‘s apprenticeship He wrote ‘ Love’s
Labour’s Lost, The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Two Gentlemen of
Verona, Romeo and Juliet (with the poem ‘ Venus and Adonis , and The Rape of
Lucrece ), Richard II, Henry IV Part I and II and Richard III. These plays were marked
by an excessive use of rhymes, puns and conceits . The themes are farcical.
Second Period : ( 1594 – 1601)
In this period the art of characterization in considerably advanced. He shows are
skill and delicacy in drawing female characters. The plays ‘King John , The Merchant of
Venice , The Taming of the Shrew, Henry IV Part I and II, Henry V, The Merry wives of
Windsor, Much Ado About Nothing. As you like It, Twelfth Night, All’s Well That Ends
Well and ‘The Sonnets ‘ belongs to this period.
Third Period : ( 1601 – 1609 )
The plays ‘ Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Measure for Measure , Troilus and Cressida,
Othello, Macbeth, King Lear , Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens ‘
belong to this period. In the plays of this period, Shakespeare deals with the problems
of life and fate.
Fourth Period : (1609 – 1613)
The plays ‘Pericles’ The Tempest, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, Henry VIII
belong to this period.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF SHAKESPEARE PLAYS:
PLAYS PERFORMED PUBLISHED
1. Henry VI Part II 1590-1591 1594
2. Henry VI Part III 1590-1591 1594
3. Henry VI Part I 1591-1592 1623
4. Richard III 1592-1593 1597
5. The Comedy of Errors 1592-1593 1623
6. Titus Andronicus 1593-1594 1594
7. The Taming of the Shrew 1593-1594 1623
8. The Two Gentlemen of Verona 1594-1595 1623
9. Love’s Labour’s Lost 1594-1595 1598
10. Romeo and Juliet 1594-1595 1597
11. Richard II 1595-1596 1597
12. A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1595-1596 1600
13. King John 1596-1597 1623
14. The Merchant of Venice 1596-1597 1600
15. Henry IV Part I 1597-1598 1598
16. Henry IV Part II 1597-1598 1600
 17. Much Ado About Nothing 1598-1599 1600
18. Henry V 1598-1599 1600
19. Julius Caesar 1599-1600 1623
20. As You Like It 1599-1600 1623
21. Twelfth Night 1599-1600 1623
22. Hamlet 1600-1601 1603
23. The Merry Wives of Windsor 1600-1601 1602
24. Troilus and Cressida 1601-1602 1609
25. All’s Well That Ends Well 1602-1603 1623
26. Measure for Measure 1604-1605 1623
27. Othello 1604-1605 1622
28. King Lear 1605-1606 1608
29. Macbeth 1605-1606 1623
30. Antony and Cleopatra 1606-1607 1623
31. Coriolanus 1607-1608 1623
32. Timon of Athens 1607-1608 1623
33. Pericles 1608-1609 1609
34. Cymbeline 1609-1610 1623
35. The Winter’s Tale 1610-1611 1623
36. The Tempest 1611-1612 1623
37. Henry VIII 1612-1613 1623
38. The Two Noble Kinsmen 1612-1613 1634

The Two Noble Kinsmen was written by both John Fletcher and William

Shakespeare. Its plot derives from "The Knight's Tale" in Geoffrey Chaucer's The
Canterbury Tales.

Shakespeare acted in
Chamberlain
He may have performed in as Henry IV in Henry IV: Parts 1 and 2, as Duncan
in Macbeth, as the Ghost of Hamlet's father in Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice
and as the faithful servant in As You Like It.

Great Tragedies

A first-period tragedy is Titus Andronicus. Shakespeare's greatest tragedies come from

Second period Tragedies are Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar.

But four great tragedies are Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth.

SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS BY GENRE

COMEDY PLAYS
 1. All’s Well That Ends Well
2. The Comedy of Errors
3. As you Like It
4. Cymbeline
5. Love’s Labours Lost
6. Measure for Measure
7. The Merry Wives of Windsor
8. The Merchant of Venice
9. Twelfth Night
10. Two Gentlemen of Verona
History Plays
1. Henry IV Part 1
2. Henry IV Part 2
3. Henry V
4. Henry VI Part 1
5. Henry VI Part 2
6. Henry VI Part 3
7. Henry VIII
8. King John
9. Richard II
10. Richard III
TRAGEDY PLAYS
1. Antony and Cleopatra
2. King Lear
3. Macbeth
4. Othello
5. Titus Andronicus
MASQUE PLAYS
1. Henry VIII
2. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
3. Romeo and Juliet
4. The Tempest
PROBLEM PLAYS
1. All’s Well That Ends Well
2. Measure for Measure
3. Troilus and Cressida
4. The Winter’s Tale
ROMAN PLAYS
1. Antony and Cleopatra
2. Coriolanus
3. Julius Caesar
ROMANCE PLAYS
1. Pericles
2. Cymbeline
3. The Winter’s Tale
4. The Tempest
TRAGICOMEDY PLAYS
1. Cymbeline
2. The Merchant of Venice
3. The Winter’s Tale
LOST PLAYS
1. Cardenio
2. Love’s Labour Won

Poetry
The Rape of Lucrece 1594
The Sonnets of Shakespeare 1609
Venus and Adonis 1593
SHAKESPEARE'S SOURCE MATERIAL
In the entire works of William Shakespeare there are few original plots.
Shakespeare was as gifted a borrower as he was a writer. Gerard Langbaine was the
first to note Shakespeare's use of sources in his 1691 work, Account of the English
Dramatick Poets.

This Italian prose and poetry writer Giovanni Boccaccio published a collection of
stories entitled the Decameron.  This is Source for
 All’s Well That Ends Well, 
Cymbeline and 
The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Two of Shakespeare's greatest classical sources are Plutarch and Ovid.
Plutarch's Parallel Lives provides the biographies of Greek and Roman rulers that
Shakespeare used in creating 
Julius Caesar, 
Antony and Cleopatra, 
Coriolanus, and 
Timon of Athens.
Ovid's Metamorphoses was the source for
Titus Andronicus and 
Midsummer Night's Dream.
Shakespeare's early comedies lean on Roman playwrights Plautus and Terence
for situational plots and character archetypes.
Hamlet derives in part from the tale of Amleth from the Gesta Danorum (Deeds of
the Danes) by Saxo Grammaticus.
Holinshed’s Chronicles records the history of England, Scotland, and Ireland. It
became Shakespeare’s primary source for his historical plays 
Henry IV , part –I and part –II
 Henry V
 Henry VI , part –I and part –II and part-III
 Henry VIII, 
Richard II, 
 Richard III, 
King Lear,
 Macbeth, and 
Cymbeline.
Plutarch, Greek historian and philosopher became the main source for
Shakespeare’s Roman plays. He produced a text called Parallel Lives in around 100
AD that contains over 40 biographies of Greek and Roman leaders. It became the
source for

 Antony and Cleopatra, 

Coriolanus, 
Julius Caesar and 
Timon of Athens.
He also uses Edward Halle's The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of
Lancaster and York and Samuel Daniel's The Civil Wars between the Two Houses of
Lancaster and York as source material for his plays dealing with the Wars of the Roses.
To a lesser extent, the history plays further show at least passing familiarity with the
works of other English historians such as Richard Grafton, John Speed, and John Stow.
The Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio provided material for 
All's Well That Ends Well, 
Cymbeline and 
The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Arthur Brooke's poem The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet served as the
source for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Chaucer provides source material for The Two Noble Kinsmen, Troilus and
Cressida, and Midsummer Night's Dream.
Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy and an earlier play alluded to in other
sources, commonly called the Ur-Hamlet. 
The Merchant of Venice can be seen as a reflection of Christopher
Marlowe's The Jew of Malta.
King Lear is a direct descendant of the anonymous True Chronicle History of
King Leir.
The Greek play Euripides'  Alcestis was a source for The Winter's Tale

Themes in Shakespeare’s plays

Antony & Cleopatra
Honour and love
Hamlet 

Hesitation
Corruption 
Revenge 
Deception
Ambition
Loyalty
Serendipity 
Madness
 Revenge
Fortune,Fate, &Providence
Estrangement
Disease and Poison
Weakness or justice
Betrayal
Frailty and Inability to Act
As You Like It
Love is life's greatest joy and greatest healer. 
Love is a many-splintered thing. 
Fortune and Nature often work at odds. 
Nature heals. 
All is not what it seems
Gender and Sexual Genre
Henry V
A noble cause with noble warriors can win the day against overwhelming odds. 
Foreign war quells domestic strife. 
A just cause can transform disunity into unity
Julius Caesar 
Idealism 
Ambition 
Deceit 
Recognize and heed warnings
Betrayal
Supernatural
King Lear 
Suffering can transform a contemptible human being into a good person. 
All things are not as they appear. 
Greed and lust
Fate. Power
Moral issues
Madness and Evil
Morality and the Fool
Justice
Twelfth Night 
Love
Disguise
Macbeth
Ambition
Lust for power
Appearance vs. reality
Temptation
Guilt haunts the evildoer
A Midsummer Night's Dream 
Love ultimately triumphs in the end. 
Appearance vs reality 
 Father does not always know best
Dream the impossible dream
Confusion and Love
Mythology
Fantasy and Supernatural
Much Ado about Nothing
The road to marriage is often lined with pitfalls and impediments. 
Appearance vs reality
All is not what it seems. 
Love
Irony
Othello
Appearance vs reality.
Sexual jealousy
Jealousy
Hatred 
True love
beauty & fortune
Love between Othello and Desdemona
Iago’s motives
Brotherly love
Reputation, honor, and self-esteem
Black and White Image
The Devil
Jealousy and trust
Jealousy and Suspicion
Richard II
Sun symbolism
Garden imagery
Moral & political implications
Richard III
ambition, quest for power, & ability to mask his evil
Good and Evil
Ambition 
Appearance vs reality
All things are not as they seem. 
Where there is pure evil, there is no conscience. 
I am what I am
Romeo and Juliet 
Love
Tragedy 
Judgement 
Conflict 
Fate
Marriage of Love and Death
Love and Hate
Taming of the Shrew 
Role of women - submissiveness
Love
Money makes the man
The Tempest 
Forgive and forget. 
Repent your sins.
Exploration and mistreatment of native populations. 
The storms of life are followed by peace and calm. 
Friendship
Freedom
Antony & Cleopatra
Honour and love
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Sexual possessiveness
Cymbeline
Confusion
Measure for Measure
Attitude toward society
Jealousy
Sense of justice
Merchant of Venice:
Hate and Revenge
Cross-dressing in Shakespeare’s comedies
Male characters are disguised as women
The Taming of the Shrew
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Women characters disguised as man
The first instance of female cross-dressing with the disconcerting nuances
of a boy actor dressing as a boy while playing the role of a woman in the
dramatic world of Shakespeare occurs in The Two Gentlemen of Verona
1. Julia in The Two Gentlemen of Verona -In order to act freely in a patriarchal society,
Julia transforms herself into a boy to pursue her lover.
2. Portia in The Merchant of Venice - Portia disguises herself as a man in order to travel
to Venice and as a lawyer to enter the courtroom.
3. Viola in Twelfth Night - Viola becomes a eunuch in order to win Duke Orsino’s love.
4. Rosalind in As You Like It - Rosalind acts as a shepherd to escape from Duke
Frederick and to test Orlando’s love.
5. Imogen In Cymbeline - the main female character puts on male clothes in order to
visit her lover Posthumous Leonatus.

Shakespearean clowns and fools

Shakespearean fools are usually clever peasants or commoners. They use their
wits to outdo people of higher social standing. They are very similar to the real fools,
and jesters of the time, but their characteristics are greatly heightened for theatrical
effect. The "groundlings", theatre-goers who were poor to pay for seats stood on the
'ground' in the front by the stage were more likely to be drawn to these Shakespearean
fools. They were also favoured by the nobility. Queen Elizabeth I was a great admirer of
the popular actor who portrayed fools, Richard Tarlton. Actor Robert Armin may have
proved vital to the cultivation of the fool character in his many plays.
Fools have entertained a varied public from Roman through Medieval times. The
fool reached its pre-Shakespearean heights as the jester in aristocratic courts across
Europe. The jester played a dynamic and changing role in entertaining aristocratic
households in a wide variety of ways: songs, music, storytelling, medieval satire,
physical comedy and, to a lesser extent, juggling and acrobatics.
Shakespeare's earlier fools often seem to be written for the particular talents of
famous Elizabethan actor, William Kempe.

List of Shakespearean fools

1. A Fool in Timon of Athens
2. Autolycus in The Winter's Tale
3. Citizen in Julius Caesar
4. Cloten in Cymbeline
5. Clown in Othello
6. Clown in Titus Andronicus
7. Costard in Love's Labours Lost – This clown is referred to as a "fool"
8. Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing
9. Dromio of Ephesus & Dromio of Syracuse  in The Comedy of Errors
10. Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2
11. Feste in Twelfth Night 
12. Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew
13. Launce in Two Gentlemen of Verona 
14. Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice –he is called a "patch" and a fool,
and also because of his malapropisms 
15. Lavache in All's Well That Ends Well 
16. Pompey in Measure for Measure 
17. Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream
18. Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream 
19. Speed in Two Gentlemen of Verona 
20. The Fool in  The Gravediggers in Hamlet
21. The Porter in Macbeth
22. Thersites in Troilus and Cressida
23. Touchstone in As You Like It –he is a natural fool ("Fortune makes Nature's
natural the cutter-off of Nature's wit", "hath sent this natural for our whetstone"
24. Trinculo in The Tempest – Trinculo is considered to be a jester.
25. Yorick in Hamlet 
26. Armin became a counter-point to the themes of the play and the power
relationships between the theater and the role of the fool. Ar-min was a major
 intellectual influence on Shakespeare's fools. His major skills were mime and
mimicry;
27. The clowning in Shakespeare's plays may have been intended as "an emotional
vacation from the more serious business of the main action", in other
words, comic relief.
28.  the Gravediggers in Hamlet after Ophelia's suicide;
29. the Porter in Macbeth just after the murder of the King;
30. Shakespeare's fools speak truth to the other characters truth to the audience.
31. Feste, in Twelfth Night, introduces a central theme when he tells Olivia that "the
future is uncertain, laughter momentary, and youth 'a stuff will not endure'."
Shakespeare closes the play with Feste alone on the stage, singing directly to
the audience "of man's inexorable progress from childhood's holiday realm ... into
age, vice, disillusionment, and death. This pessimism is informed and
sweetened, however, not only by the music to which it is set, but by the tolerance
and acceptance of Feste himself."
Same character in Shakespeare’s different plays
Aemilius:
• Aemilius is Roman nobleman who acts as ambassador between Saturninus and
Lucius in Titus Andronicus.
• Marcus Aemilius Lepidus  is one of the Triumvirs. the three rulers of Rome after
Caesar's death, in Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.
Agrippa:
• Agrippa , a follower of Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra, proposes that the
widowed Antony should marry Octavia.
• Menenius Agrippa in Coriolanus is a friend and supporter of Coriolanus in his
political struggles.
Alexander:
• Alexander is Cressida's servant in Troilus and Cressida.
• Alexander Court, fictional character is a soldier in the English army in Henry V
• Alexander, histitorical character kills Jack Cade in Henry VI, Part 2.
Andronicus:
• Marcus Andronicus is the brother of Titus Andronicus.
• Titus Andronicus is the central character of Titus Andronicus. Broken and sent
mad by Tamora and her followers, he eventually exacts his revenge by killing her
sons, and cooking them for her to eat.
Angelo:
• Angelo deputises for the Duke during the latter's absence from Vienna, but
proves corrupt, seeking the sexual favours of Isabella, in Measure for Measure.
• Angelo is a goldsmith who has been commissioned to make a chain by
Antipholus of Ephesus, which he delivers to Antipholus of Syracuse in error.
Antipholus
Antonio:
• Antonio is the title character, although not the central character, of The Merchant
of Venice. Shylock claims a pound of his flesh.
• Antonio is the brother of Leonato in Much Ado About_Nothing.
• Antonio is a sea captain who rescues, and loves, Sebastian in Twelfth Night.
 • Antonio is the brother of Prospero in The Tempest. He conspires with Sebastian
to murder Alonzo and Gonzalo.
• Antonio is Proteus' father, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
Balthasar:
• Balthasar is Romeo's servant in Romeo and Juliet.
• Balthasar is a singer, attending on Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing.
• Balthasar is a merchant in The Comedy of Errors.
• Balthasar is a servant of Portia in The Merchant of Venice.
Bianca:
• Bianca is the younger sister of Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew. She is
loved by Gremio and Hortensio, and eventually marries Lucentio.
• Bianca is Michael Cassio's mistress in Othello.
Claudio:
• Claudio is a friend to Benedick and a follower of Don Pedro, in Much Ado
About_Nothing. He falls in love with Hero but is persuaded, wrongly, that she has
been unfaithful.
• Claudio, brother to Isabella, is sentenced to death for fornication in Measure for
Measure.
Cornelius:
• Cornelius and Voltemand are two ambassadors from Claudius to the Norwegian
court, in Hamlet.
• Cornelius, a doctor in Cymbeline, provides a fake poison to the Queen, which is
later used on Imogen. He also reports the Queen's last words.
Demetrius:
• Demetrius is in love with Hermia at the start of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Later, he loves and marries Helena.
• Demetrius and Chiron, are two sons of Tamora in Titus Andronicus. They rape
and mutilate Lavinia, and are eventually killed and cooked by Titus, who serves
them to Tamora to eat.
• Demetrius and Philo, Romans following Antony, regret his infatuation with
Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra.
Diomedes:
• Diomedes is a follower of Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra. He informs Antony
that Cleopatra is alive, and informs Cleopatra that Antony is dying.
• Diomedes  is one of the Greek leaders in Troilus and Cressida.
• Diomedes' Servant is sent with a message to Cressida, in Troilus and Cressida.
Emilia:
• Emilia is the wife of Iago in Othello. She steals Desdemona's handkerchief for
Iago. At the end of the play – too late to save Desdemona – she realises Iago's
villainy, and exposes him, but is then murdered by him.
• Emilia is Hippolyta's sister in The Two Noble Kinsmen. Both title characters fall in
love with her, leading to mortal conflict.
• Emilia is a lady attending on Hermione, both at court and in prison, in The
Winter's Tale.
John Falstaff 
• 1.Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character  appears in three plays.
 • Henry IV, Part 1 
• Henry-IVPart-2, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V.
• In The Merry Wives of Windsor, he is the buffoonish suitor of two married
women.
• The name "Falstaff" may be derived from the medieval knight Sir John Fastolf
Titles of work inspired by Shakespeare Phrases
Phrase Inspired by work
1. Brave New World Aldous Huzley The Tempest
2. Infinite Jest David Foster Wallace Hamlet
3. What Dreams May Come Richard Matheson Hamlet
4. The Sound and The Fury William Faulkner Macbeth
5. Under the Greenwood Tree Thomas Hardy As you like it
6. Band of Brothers Stephen E.Ambrose HenryV,
7. The Fault in our stars John green Julius Caesar
8. The Moon is Down John Steinbeck Macbeth,
9. Remembrance of Things Past Marcel proust Sonnet 30
10. Pale Fire Vladimir Nabokov Timon of Athens,
11. The Dark Tower Series Stephen King King Lear
12. Time out of joint Philip K.Dick Hamlet,
13. Something wicked this way Comes Brandbury Macbeth

Phrases by Shakespeare
"It’s Greek to me"
"Fair play"
"All that glitters isn’t gold"
"Break the ice"
"Clothes make the man".
"Too much of a good thing"
All our yesterdays 
All's well that ends well 
Bag and baggage 
Better foot before ("best foot forward") 
The better part of valor is discretion 
From Macbeth
Come what come may ("come what may") 
Crack of doom
Infirm of purpose 
Knock knock! Who's there? 
 Milk of human kindness 
Nothing in his life became him like the leaving it 
One fell swoop 
Something wicked this way comes 
A sorry sight 
Sound and fury 
There's no such thing 
What's done is done 
From The Tempest
Brave new world 
In a pickle 
Melted into thin air 
Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows 
What's past is prologue 
Sea change 
Such stuff as dreams are made on 
From Measure for Measure
Refuse to budge an inch 
From Antony and Cleopatra
From Henry IV Part I
Salad days 
Send packing 
Stony hearted 
Set my teeth on edge 
Tell truth and shame the devil 
From Henry IV part 2
Wish is father to that thought 
From As You Like It
In a better world than this
Forever and a day 
Neither rhyme nor reason 
 Sweet are the uses of adversity 
From Hamlet
Neither a borrower nor a lender be 
Conscience does make cowards of us all 
From Twelfth Night
Laugh yourself into stitches 
From The Taming of the Shrew
Break the ice 
From Cymbeline
The game is up 
From Comedy of Errors
'Tis high time 
From Romeo Juliet
Violent delights have violent ends 
What's in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
From Othello
Wear my heart upon my sleeve 
From Sonnets
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day